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“Place, Nations, Generations, Beings: 200 Years of Indigenous North American Art” to Open at the Yale University Art Gallery

November 1, 2019

The Yale University Art Gallery will host its first exhibit dedicated to Indigenous North American art, entitled Place, Nations, Generations, Beings: 200 Years of Indigenous North American Art. This student-curated gallery emphasizes a multiplicity of Indigenous voices and experiences through more than 75 artworks dating from the early 19th century to the present. It brings together objects from the Yale University Art Gallery, the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library to showcase basketry, beadwork, textiles, pottery, drawings, photography, and wood carving by prominent artists such as Maria Martinez, Marie Watt, and Will Wilson, among others. Guided by the four themes in its title, the exhibition investigates the connections that Indigenous peoples have to their lands; the power of objects as expressions of sovereignty; the passing on of artistic practices and traditions; and the relationships that artists and nations have to animals, plants, and cosmological beings. The objects on view contribute to the larger narrative of American art and act as touchstones for further partnerships with Indigenous nations.